Almost half the people training on the mat (well over 200 in all, I think -- it was a large, international event) were women and yet, when picking uke out from the keen and willing participants, none of the first four instructors, including the woman, chose a single female uke.

Perhaps not very related, but this reminds me of an episode that I heard about...

A friend of mine was conducting an aikido demonstration to the public a while back. During it, he first had his partner, a woman far smaller than he, throw him around to show that a small person could throw a large person. This got some good reactions from the crowd with clapping and such. Then they reversed roles to show that a small woman could take the falls, too. He said that the audience grew totally quiet; he later got feedback that people didn't like seeing a guy "beating up" on a smaller woman.